"Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path: A Policy and Practice Brief” is based on more than a decade of research and development work at the Center for the Social Organization of Schools (CSOS) at Johns Hopkins University as well as direct field experience in more than 30 middle schools implementing comprehensive reform and a long-standing collaboration with the Philadelphia Education Fund and several middle schools that serve high-poverty populations in Philadelphia. Our research and fieldwork illuminate key policy and practice implications of the role the middle grades play in achieving our national goal of graduating all students from high school prepared for college, career, and civic life.
See the Executive Summary or Download the full Policy and Practice Brief.

Accelerated Middle Schools are self-contained academic programs designed to help middle school students who are behind grade level catch up with their age peers.

Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success (ALAS) ALAS means “wings” in Spanish. It is a middle school (or junior high school) intervention designed to address student, school, family, and community factors that affect dropping out.